


Raising Up My Hands

by dedougal



Series: That Star Can Twinkle [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, teen wolf bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-25
Updated: 2012-11-25
Packaged: 2017-11-19 12:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/573096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dedougal/pseuds/dedougal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny just wanted to help out. That was all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Raising Up My Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miya_Morana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miya_Morana/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Miya! Although this isn't that happy or much beyond a beginning. Pretend boyfriends is all where it starts after all. This is also for the cuddling square on my TW Bingo card.

“My dad isn’t…” Stiles rocked on the stool, tipping it to an almost dangerous angle. Danny sighed and shoved him back into place. He was getting a little bit fed up with being considered many people’s wise gay Yoda. “He isn’t listening about a whole lot of things but this is the one that I kinda want him to.”

Danny looked at his homework. He had really wanted to finish it in study hall so he could spend some quality time online tonight. But since the teacher had basically vanished out of the door to gossip with someone outside and Stiles was immune to glares and pointed pen tapping, there was very little chance of that. “Why ask me?”

“Because-“ Danny bet himself an extra cookie at lunch that Stiles was about to say ‘you’re the only gay guy I know in real life’. But Stiles surprised him. “Because I trust you.”

Danny sat up at that. He respected Stiles a little more now. And perhaps he could offer advice. “What did he say when you told him?”

“He said that I was lying about this to cover up the fact I’m hiding something else. Which I am. But there’s no way I’m going to tell him about the other thing and I keep thinking that I want to be more honest and it’s all…” Stiles rubbed a hand over his buzz cut. Danny had liked how Stiles had let his hair grow a little but now it was back to short stubble. Like Stiles was punishing himself for something.

“Why not come clean?” Danny genuinely didn’t want to know what secrets were so big that Stiles couldn’t tell his dad but it was probably something to do with Jackson and Lydia and Scott and that Lahey kid and everything. But he had to try.

“Because my dad doesn’t need to have a heart attack?” Sarcasm was Stiles’s refuge and home and Danny could appreciate that. “I want to be a little honest, though. Just a smidgen.” Stiles raised his hand, showing Danny what he imagined a smidgen looked with his index finger and thumb. Danny had a little smidgen of thought to himself right then: Stiles had nice fingers. Maybe that was the reason why Danny suggested what he did.

“So give him proof he can’t ignore. Have a boyfriend.” Stiles looked thoughtful at that. Then he laughed, mockingly, a sharp bark.

“Where am I going to get someone to either be my boyfriend or pretend to be one so we can convince my dad…?” Stiles was eyeing Danny now, speculatively. Too speculatively. “You-“

“No.” Danny turned back to his textbook. He had Math problems to solve. “No.” He felt Stiles shift closer, rocking his stool the other way. Then Danny made the fatal mistake of looking up, catching the pleading look, the vulnerability in Stiles’s eyes, just for an instant. “One time.”

Stiles punched the air and promptly overbalanced, crashing to the floor. Danny laughed along with everyone as Stiles scrambled up, with an “I’m okay” spat out through clenched teeth. Danny’s laugh faded, however, as Stiles flipped his t-shirt back into place and he caught a glimpse of a fading bruise, all lime green and sick yellow over Stiles’s hip. Maybe Stiles really did need to start being honest with his dad about more things.

 

The bruise bothered Danny. He tried on all sorts of explanations – lacrosse, Stiles’s natural clumsiness – but nothing seemed to fit. The positioning was suspect too, almost like someone had grabbed Stiles too hard. But no one should be able to leave bruises like that unless Stiles was unable to fight back, unless his attacker was insanely strong. Danny spent the next few days breaking his rule of not looking at anyone in the locker room, trying to catch Stiles without his shirt. But Stiles was a master of avoiding that, changing behind lockers or Scott or after everyone or just ducking out after practice to go shower at home.

That worried Danny. Stiles was obviously getting hurt often enough to know all the dodges. Danny couldn’t let it rest, his conscience a constant prickle in his mind. He needed to check Stiles wasn’t perhaps involved with someone he couldn’t bring home to his dad to introduce. Someone like his skeevy cousin Miguel.

That was why Danny skipped out of his student council meeting and drove straight to the Stilinski house after school. Stiles had peeled out of the parking lot almost before the final bell had stopped ringing and Danny just wanted to…check. Just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. And since Stiles had avoided him like the plague for the last two days after his offer, Danny wanted to find out why.

He was a pretend boyfriend catch. Yes he was.

Stiles’s Jeep wasn’t in the driveway but Danny knocked at the door regardless. The sheriff looked surprised to see him when he opened it. “Yes?”

“I’m here for Stiles.” Danny thought that sounded a little impolite. “Sir.”

“He’s not home yet from practice. Which… You’re on the lacrosse team?” Sharp eyes that didn’t miss much pinned Danny in place.

“We don’t have practice tonight.” Danny wondered if he should lie, head back to his car, pretend this was all a horrible mistake. But he ploughed on, regardless. “Stiles said to pick him up from here. We were going to grab dinner.”

“Because you’re one of Stiles’s friends?” The sheriff looked oddly confused at that. Danny decided to kill two birds with one stone.

“Not- It was a date.” He shrugged. The sheriff had interviewed him after the whole weird drug incident at Jungle after all. The sheriff’s face clouded over, a little guilt, worry and anger mixing with his attempt to maintain a bland, polite welcome. Danny waved his hand at his car. “I can come back later.”

“No.” That came out a little sharper than Stiles’s dad had probably intended. “You should come in and wait.”

 

Stiles showed up two hours later, sweat soaked and exhausted. He could have plausibly been playing lacrosse, had there actually been practice, and that might even have explained the way his cheek had a fresh scrape purpling into a bruise. Danny only stopped himself from clenching his hand into a fist by holding on to his pants a little too tightly.

“Dad. Danny.” Stiles hovered awkwardly in the doorway. “I’m just going to go-“ Stiles jerked a thumb at the stairs and Danny eased his grip.

“Did you forget about our date?” It came out a little angry, for all that there had never actually been a date.

“Our…? Yes. Sorry. Just- Give me a moment?” Stiles spun around but it was a little too slow and a little too stiff. His face wasn’t the only place hurting. Danny watched him climb up the stairs until Stiles vanished from sight. Then he got to his feet, wanting to do something, be somewhere. He wanted to climb the stairs, push open the door and confront Stiles, on one hand but at the same time, all his self-preservation instincts were telling him to run, to leave it to Stiles and his dad. 

“You can-“ The sheriff rubbed his hands over his face and lifted his newspaper again. “Go on up, son.”

Danny didn’t wait for another invitation.

 

Danny remembered the way to Stiles’s bedroom. He wasn’t surprised to see that Stiles hadn’t made much progress on the whole getting showered thing when he pushed the door open. Stiles was sprawled out, face down, on his bed and groaning softly. Danny waited for an acknowledgment before closing the door and walking around the bed. “You gonna tell me what’s going on, Stiles?”

“Can’t tell my dad, can’t tell you.” Stiles’s voice was clear enough for all that his face was smushed into a pillow. “It’s all a fucking disaster.”

“You’re hurt, Stiles. You need to tell someone.” Danny came closer, kneeling at the side of the bed.

“You should see the other guy?” Stiles rolled his head to the side, finally meeting Danny’s eye. “Actually, don’t. There isn’t a scratch on him.” This close, Danny could see that Stiles’s lip was also puffy and split. Danny hesitated before reaching out. He wasn’t normally like this. Normally he maintained a socially appropriate distance. But something in the broken, matter-of-fact way that Stiles seemed to just accept the fact he was someone’s punchbag made Danny want to throw all that away. He wrapped an arm around Stiles’s shoulder before giving up and climbing onto the bed, letting Stiles rest against him. Stiles pulled back after a moment. “I’m gross, dude.”

“I still have my shoes on.” Danny let Stiles settle back against him. They lay there, not saying anything for a long moment. It was nice. Stiles felt…right in his arms. This whole pretend boyfriend for the benefit of Stiles’s dad was going to become awkward if Danny slipped into something that was closer to a crush. Fuck. He was already kinda beyond that, something settling low in his belly as Stiles curled up closer, holding on.

“So, you staying for dinner?” Stiles had his head tucked under Danny’s chin. 

“You going to tell the truth?”

Stiles was silent for a long moment. “Soon. I promise.” Then he tilted his head up and brushed his lips against Danny’s, almost too brief to be called a kiss but definitely a hint of one. That same warmth in his stomach flipped over, not entirely unpleasantly. He could live with that for now.


End file.
